Criminal Case

Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law students have been meeting monthly with participants in a re-entry program for much of the school year, mentoring them and helping them overcome barriers in whatever they need to succeed.

In less than a year, the Odyssey Text Messaging Reminder System has sent more than 400,000 text messages to criminal defendants scheduled to appear before in court. Judges say the system, which became available in May 2018 for any interested Indiana county, has reduced the number of litigants missing court dates.

Indiana’s top attorney threatened to sue the women for defamation. But the four who publicly came forward with allegations of being groped by Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill found out that while the #MeToo movement gave them plenty of support from other victims, they will still be on their own in fighting for change.

A consequential Indiana Court of Appeals ruling on an issue of first impression last month marked one of the first times state courts have been asked to reconcile civil rights with advancing technology. The question: considering the personal nature of the contents of a person’s smartphone, can an individual be forced to unlock a smartphone without violating the Fifth Amendment?

John Walker Lindh, the young Californian who became known as the American Taliban after he was captured by U.S. forces in the invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, is set to go free from the Federal Correctional Institute in Terre Haute after nearly two decades in prison.

A 21-year-old man has been sentenced to three years in prison for spray-painting anti-Semitic graffiti and lighting fires outside a Carmel synagogue. Witnesses said the man had openly advocated Nazism among friends and co-workers and had planned a larger attack.

A divided Indiana Court of Appeals panel cut a child molester’s sentence in half after it concluded that the length of his sentence was inappropriate due to his dementia and incompetence, among other things.

The owner of an Indianapolis towing company has been indicted for running what prosecutors describe as a “title-washing scheme,” in which he targeted financially distressed car owners, took possession of their vehicles, charged huge towing and storage fees and then resold them.